Wellness center under new management

The management of the Bond Wellness Center at Monadnock Community Hospital has been contracted out to an outside service.

The Bond Wellness Center opened in November of 2000 and offers a variety of services including personal training, rehabilitation services, massage therapy and nutrition counseling, as well as housing oncology services.

It is only the fitness portion of the center that will be transferred to management by the Texas-based company Cusimano & Associates, according to Communications Manager at Monadnock Community Hospital Phil McFarland.

“The medical rehabilitation and oncology are in the wellness center as well, and they will still be under the hospital,” said McFarland. “It’s just the fitness component that is being overseen by Cusimano.”

Louis Cusimano, president, and CEO of Cusimano & Associates said in an interview Wednesday that the employees of the fitness center will now be employed by his company, and not the hospital. Most, but not all, were rehired under Cusimano & Associates — Cusimano estimated at least 95 percent retention.

“There is always some attrition,” said Cusimano, who said one or two employees were not rehired under the new management system.

Employees will remain on the same pay and benefit scale, according to Cusimano.

The consulting firm specializes in the creation and management of hospital-sponsored medical fitness centers, according to its website. They were involved, in fact in the creation of the Bond Wellness Center, and have at times served as a consultant when the center was updating its programming, said Cusimano.

They have entered into a three-year contract with the hospital for management services.

“We specialize in it,” said Cusimano. “With the changing healthcare environment, it’s not unusual for hospitals to outsource things that are not in their core business. Food service, environmental service, these things are not their core business. This is just another example. It makes all the sense in the world for everybody.”

In a statement from MCH, McFarland compared the arrangement to existing ones in the hospital system, including laboratory employees, who are overseen by Catholic Medical Center, and food services and environmental services, overseen by Sodexo.

“Like many small hospitals, our strategy has included partnering with other organizations in areas of specific managerial expertise,” McFarland wrote in the statement.

Because they were involved in the development of systems at the center, users of the facility shouldn’t see much difference in their experience, said Cusimano. They are working with the previously-established Bond Wellness Advisory Committee and would include the hospital in discussions of any changes to make a joint decision, said Cusimano.

“There’s no drastic modifications,” he said. “Users won’t see any changes with the experience.”

Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.